on this sunday night, from los angeles. the frannic search for a missing pop star and her entourage after her plane went missing over mexico. tonight the race to find them. the secret meeting at the white house today. what happened behind closed doors when the president met with the speaker. a new turn in the investigation tonight after the death of kate middleton's nurse. the warning issued decades ago, eerily similar to what actually happened when the superstorm came ashore. why didn't local leaders act? and are there hidden dangers in your house? the new report that says certain types of furniture could be making your family sick.

good evening. there is late word from mexico tonight that searchers have found what's believed to be plane wreckage where a plane went missing with jenni rivera on board. fans and colleagues of the three-time grammy nominee -- there were no reported signs of survivors at the apparent crash site. miguel is outside of rivera's home in encino, california with the latest. >> reporter: jenni rivieera has always maintained a home here in california. as you mentioned, late word tonight, they may have found the missing star.

mexican-american singing sensation, jenni rivera who has sold some 20 million records is tonight missing. the multigrammy winning nominee was last seen boarding the learjet near monterrey, mexico. the plane believed with seven on board took off. ten minutes into the flight, 62 miles after takeoff, the private jet fell off the radar. >> no doubt she's one of the biggest stars. >> reporter: a mother of five who recently filed for divorce. rivera was born in long beach, california to immigrant parents. in the '90s she became a crossover star. her album jenni became number

one in the pop latin style. just last year she sold out staples center in los angeles. the first female mexican artist to ever do. >> i love jenni. >> reporter: a reality tv star with her film debut set for next month, tonight in mexico, the search for rivera's plane is still under way. rivera's flight was scheduled to last about an hour and a half, and although those early reports are unconfirmed, the mexican authorities say there are no survivors. now to late word about the meeting at the white house between president obama and house speaker john boehner, trying to strike a deal to avert the looming fiscal cliff. >> reporter: you know, aides are providing no details, radio

silence here, it was all done out of camera range, but you're right, sometime this afternoon, house speaker john boehner was here to meet face to face with president obama. it's the first glimmer of hope after weeks of stalemates. today a warning to republicans from a top senate democrat, no hike in taxes on the wealthy, no deal on the debt. >> even if it means going over the cliff? >> i don't want to do it, the president doesn't want to do it but we need to solve the problem. we do not want to drive this economy into another recession. a recession that the republicans will own. >> if we were to pass, for instance, raising the top two rates and that's it, all of a sudden, we do have the leverage of the debt ceiling and we haven't given that up. >> reporter: congress must again vote to raise that debt ceiling early next year, that would mean a replay of last year's battle and a chance for republicans to regain the upper hand.

the president has laid down an early marker. >> i will not play that game, because we have got to break that habit before it starts. >> reporter: speaker boehner's visit today with the president was only the second time since the election the two have meat face to face. pu publicly each have been waiting for the other to blinging m. >> to say they're go along with that and then we'll start negotiating on the other side. it makes no sense for us to negotiate against ourselves. >> reporter: as the cliff looms, one influential voice says enough is enough. >> that's like betting your country. that's something terribly bizarre and juvenile about that as to think your party comes ahead of your country. i don't go for that at all. >> reporter: now lester, aides do say the lines of community are open, but the president heads to the detroit tomrow to

continue on that campaign to get the republicans to cave on the tax breaks. john harwood is cnbc's political correspondent, what where do they go from here? >> republicans ultimately are going to give ground on tax rates, raise them for some portion of wealthy americans, somewhere eastern a miaround a year. two strong bets are the increase in the medicare eligibility ages from 65 to 67 and the reduction in the social security inflation formula, president agreed to those in the mid 2011 grand bargain talks that failed. john boehner has asked for them again, good bet that those will happen. a month after voters went to

the polls and approved same-sex marriage, couples across washington state got married today. the earliest weddings to take place were just after midnight and hundreds of couples stayed off late picking up their marriage licenses at 12:01 a.m. now new details in the investigation of a death of one of kate middleton's nurses. she apparently took her own life after a prank call by a pair of australian deejays. and authorities want to talk to them. >> the australia januan broadca who own the radio station say they're grieved by what has happened. but it's too early to know the full details that let to this tragic event. sidney radio station today fm and it's parent company, southern cross are at the center of a four outside storm.

the company called an emergency board meeting to respond to the growing public outcry against the broadcasters who called one of kate middleton's nurse who was laerlt found dead. the broadcaster again expressed sympathy, calling the event truly tragic and went on to say, we assure you we will be fully cooperative with all investigations. we are reviewing the broadcast and processes involved. >> can you believe what haslem happened tonight? >> the two deejays who made the call are said to be in hiding. could they be prosecuted? it's not clear. australia has rules about recording and broadcasting a private conversation, but they're rarely enforced. london police have made contact with their australia jan counter parts. officers say they may want to speak to the deejays.

>> obviously we're happy to assist in any way we can. >> reporter: the autopsy will take place in the next few stays and an inquest will open soon after. she leaves a husband and two to teenaged children. her daughter left a simple message on facebook, i miss you, i love love you. as the family grieves, the radio station treads carefully. today fm has suspended all commercials until wednesday at least out of respect. as several major advertisers were already boycotting the station. in egypt, efforts by that country's embattled president to tampa down mass profests have failed. protesters rallied again today outside a presidential palace after morsi refused to cancel a

new constitution written by his allies. the constitution gives him unrestricted powers that some say will make him a new dictator. large base full of government forces. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has made his way inside syria. he filed this report from the outskirts of syria's largest city aleppo. >> reporter: the people are stuffering, but also showing a tremendous amount of resilience, this house was bombed by mistake, the people who lived here lived next to a rebel commander. now they're homeless. but aside from the damage, and there is extensive damage in this part of syria, just on the outskirts of the city of aleppo, there's also tremendous economic difficulties. the syrian currency is worth about half of what it was when this war started. a loaf of bread costs about --

despite all of that, the rebels are making advances, they are pushing on to president assad's military bases, surrounding his military bases. that's no hope here for a diplomatic solution, the rebels don't want one, they say the only solution they will accept is a military victory. tonight defense officials fell our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski that a u.s. navy s.e.a.l. was killed during the rescue operation of an american doctor in afghanistan. his name has not been released. it happened during a raids to save dr. dill let joseph. the military says the operation was ordered after intelligence showed the doctor's life was in danger. just two months after winning re-election, venezuelan president hugo chavez says his cancer has returned and he's treating treatment once again in kib what.

in a nationally televised speech, chaves mentioned a possible successor should his condition worsen. it's not revealed what type of cancer he has. tomorrow the first fema trailers are expected to roll into new jersey, much needed temporary housing. and in new york tonight, there are new questions about why politicians for decades didn't heed warnings about what could happen if a superstorm like sandy came ashore. katie? >> reporter: good evening, lester. there was a 14-foot storm surge here on lower manhattan, completely submerging this subway station. the damage is so bad here, they don't know when ore if they'll ever by able to open it. swamped subways.

>> a record storm surge here in the new york city area. >> reporter: massive power outages and beach front neighborhoods leveled. while officials say sandy was unprecedented, it wasn't entirely unexpected. for three decades, officials were told to prepare for a storm of historic proportions and a l law. >> nobody's taken the political courage to say, here's the standard for prepareness, here's the standard for recovery, we're going to help you fund it and then we're going to punish you if you don't get is there. >> reporter: three state reports since 1975 focused on preparedness, one addressed new york's preparability saying the sea level rise will progress regardless of new york's response. officials dealt with problems like housing, gas shortages and

firings as they arose. congress even approved an army corps of engineers hurricane protection study nearly two decades ago, focusing on hard hit staten island. >> maybe some of these houses would have been saved. >> that report remains unfin nucleared. >> we have wased tax dollars and the city, sta the. >> reporter: changes that strengthen existing emergency response plans, leaders say that ultimately saved lives, but with no, now asking for more than $40 billion to recover and prepare, many wonder why this wasn't done sooner. of course the problem facing preparedness is funding, politicians say it's very hard to get the money they need when they're only talking about a what if. lester? still ahead, as nbc "nightly news" continues from los angeles. the new warnings about hidden dangers in your house.

could certain types of furniture and clothing be making your children sick? and later, all hands on deck, making a difference. and helping to preserve history. but we can still help you see your big picture. with the fidelity guided portfolio summary, you choose which accounts to track and use fidelity's analytics to spot trends, gain insights, and figure out what you want to do next. all in one place. i'm meredith stoddard and i helped create the fidelity guided portfolio summary. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. you spend all day cooking it. so why spend even a moment considering any broth but swanson? the broth cooks trust most to make the meal folks spend all year waiting for. in stuffing and more, the secret is swanson.

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you would find in a typical furniture store. they turned to an ecofriendly store called ecohome. >> we read a lot about how they were harmful to your health. >> reporter: a study in the journal environmental science and technology found stuffing in more than 100 sophomore f hu00 the country found that 85% contained potentially hazard downs chemicals. >> they're coming out of the couches into air and dropping into dust. >> reporter: these chemicals were first used to meet requirements in california saying that the upholstery must sustain a flame for 15 seconds. among the chemicals found where were pbdes, voluntarily phased out in 2004 after the epa

expressed concern that they were toxic to both humans and the environment. and a toxic ban from children's sleep wear in the 1970s. an environmental advocacy group found the tests it commissioned found high levels of tris in 16 upholstered products. but the midwesteamerican chemis counsel say that it provides time -- a furniture trade group says it's not aware of any evidence including in the sofa study linking the retard ands in furniture as a home health problem. additional research is needed for the sole purpose of meeting california's strict standards. the treadway's say for them, finding this ecofriendly douch was worth it.

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. our final story tonight, is about a group of american veterans who have found a way to continue serving their country long after their active duty days have passed. all hands on deck, helping to preserve historic american ships. here's nbc's mark potter. >> reporter: at the patriots point navel and maritime museum in charleston, south carolina, u.s. navy veterans now in their 70s have volunteered to help preserve the uss laughy, a destroyer built during world war ii. in 1945, the laughy was hit by five come coz cities and three bombs killing 31 crewmembers.

to the men who served afford the laffey, saving her is personal. also at patriot's point is the carrier uss yorktown known as the fighting lady which served in world war ii and vietnam and also recovered the apollo ast astronauts before being retired in 1970. but other historic ships around the country, the yorktown is in need of costly repairs. >> the wear and tear from the salt water. >> reporter: rasing repair money for these privately run museum ships is a huge challenge. >> when you're looking at tens of millions of dolla that it will take to restore the uss yorktown, you can't sell enough t-shirts to make that happen. >> reporter: already a dozen historic ships have been lost. this ship, a cold war era

submarine now in danger of toppling over. repairing it will cost more than $3 million. so chances are unless there's a big donation, it will be sunk at sea, closing another chapter in u.s. history. >> if they did away with all the museums, it would be like getting rid of the battle field, whether, you know, like gt gettiesberg, vix vicksburg. >> and other ships face the ravages of time. mark potter, nbc news, charleston. that's nbc nightly news on this sunday. brian williams will be up tomorrow. i'm lester holt reporting from los angeles for all of us at nbc news, good night.